Power metal blended with catchy tunes and perfect melodies…
Pondered upon by Angie K
Release Date: 22 January 2016
Before reviewing this album, I decided to try and be clever. I hadn’t heard of MarysCreek before, so I made a point to myself to not look for any information about them until I had heard the album in its entirety. This, to me, is the most intuitive (and hopefully genuine) way of discovering new music: delve into its depths and simply enjoy – not knowing (or caring) what others may have said about it, what analogies to look for, and what influences might be underlining the production you are listening to.
I must say, I have this annoying habit to always try and find something familiar in the new music I listen to – to put it in an imaginary box. I couldn’t quite put my finger on this album until the third time I heard it. Then it hit me: I’d call them the Scandinavian equivalent of Avenged Sevenfold. I can’t help but remember “This is War” when listening to Infinity’s opening track, “Hypnotized”.
If you are a fan of those monsters of heavy rock, you will most probably like MaryCreek’s third album, Infinity. The band is not an ounce worse than the likes of Stratovarius, either, and I do hope that they will reach a similar level of popularity one day. Just listen to “Forever Lost”, and you probably won’t be able to resist drawing comparisons with Stratovarius and even a bit of Symphony X.
The signature sound of Infinity is a captivating blend of heavy, rhythmical, very well instrumented, riffs; multi-layered harmonies; modern/techno keyboards, soaring but also restrained to perfection lead vocals, and clear melodies that make you memorise them from pretty much the first listen. Is this a good thing; or is it not a symptom of commercialism? Who knows. And who gives a damn: the CD is amazingly good, and I must say, I will be listening to it well beyond the moment of submitting my review for publication. The album definitely deserves to top the new metal album charts this spring and is now one of my personal favourites of 2016.
To like an album, I tend to need a few listens. Not this time around: Infinity grabbed me right from the word “go”. This is the type of metal written in the best traditions of the genre. Its origins are deeply rooted in the typical Scandinavian rock (not stereotyping, right…), which equals good quality melodic/heavy/power/prog metal. This is what MarysCreek reinforce: from the great vocalists, through classical references, to power metal shredding (typical example being “Tomorrow”).
If you thought that Sweden had given the world its best and had nothing new to offer, you’d be wrong. ‘Into Infinity’ is every bit as good as some of Europe’s heavier tracks. Power metal blended with catchy tunes and perfect melodies will make you nod your head off to the beat and, somehow not even noticing you do it, sing along. Bloody damn good.
9 out of 10
Track Listing:
- Hypnotized
- Buried Deep Within
- Into Infinity
- So Afraid (to live)
- The First Day
- My Confession
- On The Other Side
- The Ghost Inside
- Blinded By Darkness
- Forever Lost
- My Own Enemy
